Iciclecreek.Avalonia.WindowManager

Iciclecreek.Avalonia.WindowManager

This library implements a window manager for Avalonia 12.x with windows defined using Avalonia instead of native windows. This gives you the ability to create MDI style user interfaces in Avalonia, even in environments which don't support windowing like Android and iOS.

Installation

To install you need to add a reference to the nuget package Iciclecreek.Avalonia.WindowManager

dotnet add package Iciclecreek.Avalonia.WindowManager

Usage

This library defines the following controls:

• WindowsPanel - a panel which hosts managed windows
• ManagedWindow - a window implementation which is 100% Avalonia controls (no system windows).
• PortableWindow - a portable window abstraction that automatically uses native system windows on desktop or managed windows on mobile/console.

WindowsPanel control

The WindowsPanel control creates a region that hosts multiple windows. Simply add it to your main view xaml.

    <wm:WindowsPanel x:Name="Windows"/>

ManagedWindow control

The ManagedWindow control is a clone of the Window control. It has standard Window properties like Title, WindowState, WindowStartupLocation, Position, etc. Instead of being hosted using Native windows, a ManagedWindow control is hosted via the Avalonia Overlay system.

Showing a window

To show a window you need to get an instance of the WindowsPanel and call Show().

For example:

   var window = new ManagedWindow()
   {
       Title = "My window",
       WindowStartupLocation=WindowStartupLocation.CenterScreen,
       Width=300, Height=300
   };
   Windows.Show(window);

To close a window you simply call window.Close().

Showing a Dialog

To show a dialog is exactly the same as Avalonia, you instantiate a ManagedWindow and call .ShowDialog() passing in the parent window.

   var dialogWindow = new ManagedWindow()
   {
       Title = "My window",
       WindowStartupLocation=WindowStartupLocation.CenterScreen,
       Width=300, Height=300
   };
   var result = await dialogWindow.ShowDialog<string>(parent);

To close a dialog you call Close(result);

PortableWindow control

The PortableWindow control is a portable window abstraction that lets you write a single window class that works across all platforms. When you call Show() or ShowDialog(), it automatically creates the appropriate host:

• On desktop (Windows/macOS/Linux) � a native system Window is used
• On mobile/single-view/Console (Android/iOS/browser) � a ManagedWindow is used

Derive your window classes from PortableWindow instead of Window or ManagedWindow to get automatic platform-appropriate windowing.

Defining a PortableWindow

<wm:PortableWindow xmlns="https://github.com/avaloniaui"
                    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
                    xmlns:wm="using:Iciclecreek.Avalonia.WindowManager"
                    x:Class="MyApp.MyPortableWindow"
                    Title="My Window"
                    Width="400" Height="300">
    <TextBlock Text="Hello from a portable window!" />
</wm:PortableWindow>

Showing a PortableWindow

   var window = new MyPortableWindow()
   {
       Title = "My window",
       WindowStartupLocation = WindowStartupLocation.CenterScreen,
       Width = 300, Height = 300
   };
   window.Show(parent);

To close a window you simply call window.Close().

Showing a PortableWindow as a Dialog

   var dialog = new MyPortableWindow()
   {
       Title = "My dialog",
       WindowStartupLocation = WindowStartupLocation.CenterOwner,
       Width = 300, Height = 200
   };
   var result = await dialog.ShowDialog<string>(owner);

To close a dialog you call Close(result);

Supported Properties

PortableWindow exposes the same familiar window properties, automatically synchronized with the underlying host:

Customizing Host Selection

Override the CreateHost() method to control which host is used:

public class MyPortableWindow : PortableWindow
{
    protected override IPortableWindowHost CreateHost()
    {
        // Force managed windows everywhere
        return new ManagedWindowHost();
    }
}

HotKeys

The window manager supports hotkeys for common actions like closing a window, minimizing, maximizing, etc.

NOTE: On windows consoles Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab are handled by the console window, so Ctrl+F6 and Ctrl+Shift+F6 should be used instead.